The long road to publishing and the adventures of being a full time mom while on the way :) *and beyond! :)

Saturday, March 15, 2014

HK Sterling ~ A Taste for Killing

***Quick note: Three days of Lucky In Love Blog Hop. The first day falls on my Succulent Saturday Stories, so my guest is lucky again :D Glad you stopped by!***

As many of you know, I freelance edit and edit for Breathless Press, Just Ink, and now Three World productions. During the course of my freelance work, I had the good fortune to edit for HK Sterling, under another writing name. I am pleased as punch to be showcasing her now with this tantalizing suspense novella. It's fun and quirky and I think you'll love the characters. And guess what? I've already had the great fortune to read the sequel :D *yes, that is a brag*

Here she is and count yourself luck to have read her!

Twelve Things You Probably Don't Know About H.K. Sterling

1. She's female!

2. She bungee jumped to celebrate one of her birthdays. The second time she dove off backwards.

3. She holds a Bachelor and Master's Degree.

4. She once interviewed a former Major General in the KGB.

5. She's been to South America.

6. She's also been to Mexico, Canada, and Kauai.

7.The day after getting her Master's Degree, she loaded up her furniture and drove across the country to move to California. She did this with no job waiting and $2000 to her name.

He had six-pack abs, and I wanted to
feel the carbonation. This one dressed like the stereotype of a construction
worker, down to the handkerchief he used to wipe sweat off his forehead. I
don't know if he or the hot day brought it out, but sweat poured off of me too.
He had no interest in me as a person, though. I was invading his territory.
Still, I enjoyed the view. For my part, I knew my clothes looked crappy. I
didn’t have to wear uniforms anymore, but my street clothes, well they were
very—street. So there I stood, a turd in the sun in front of this Adonis. Oh
well.

He pointed to a small trailer up a muddy
hill. The supervisor I asked to see apparently stayed in there. Stayed, as in
never left. Great. Mud. Now I'd be a dried turd in the sun. Adonis went back to
digging and I started the trek up the hill. At least I came with boots. Steel
toed.

Once I made it to the trailer, I heard
an argument going on inside.

"Look, I don't care who you are.
The plans are publically filed. Go get them yourself!" yelled someone.

Then I heard a voice I knew. Calm, cool,
subversive. "Is there any reason you're being so difficult? A man did die
on your watch."

An encounter I hadn’t planned on. Well,
at least not until later tonight. I knocked loudly on the door and with my
sweetest voice said, "Hello, boys. Am I interrupting something?"

"Great," groused the
supervisor. "A party." He appeared to me like another stereotype,
puffing on a cigar over a fat jowl line and rotund stomach that threatened to
overturn the small desk he was behind. I guess there's a reason for
stereotypes. He looked about four hamburgers away from a heart attack.

On a wooden chair in front of the
supervisor sat Jack. A fellow independent detective, an ally at times, a
competitor...and my on and off lover.

"Well, well, well," he said
smiling, but I could tell he wasn’t happy to see me. Not here. It meant we were
both working the same case. "Hello, Carolyn. Who hired you?"

"Parents."

"Girlfriend," he answered back.

We stared at each other. Complications.

The supervisor didn’t give a damn and
said to me, "Well, missy, I'll tell you the same thing I told this
guy." He jerked his thumb around to Jack. "The plans are publically
filed and that’s all I have to say about it."

I tried a different tactic. "That’s
fine with me. I have no problem going downtown for a copy." I wore my
practiced, saccharine smile. "But I wonder, could you tell me the name of
the architect? Please?" I smiled again. God, this job sucks at times.

The supervisor sighed. "Jones, Evan
Jones."

"Thank you so much," I said,
smiling my best smile again. "I'll get out of the way and leave you two
boys to...whatever you were doing."

I opened the door to go and started to
shut it only to find Jack following me out.

"Sure, flash your tits and get what
you want." Boy was he in a bad mood.

"There was no tit flashing in
there. Face it, testosterone was not a good choice in that situation."

Jack's response: a grunt.

"Besides," I tried to placate
him, "I didn’t get the plans either."

"No, you did one better."

"That's assuming the architect will
have anything to do with me and cooperate." A thought occurred to me.
"So are you going there too?"

"No, I might as well wait and see
what you turn up. Besides, I have my own leads."

"Are you planning to share?"
Just call me hopeful. As in full of shit, because that’s where hope always
seemed to lead.

"No," he said, still grumpy.

"I see. So it's gonna be like
that."

"I guess so."

I
felt like such a female. Damn. But I had to ask.

"Are we still on for tonight?"

"Yeah."

I wasn’t convinced but didn’t push it.
God, sometimes I hated myself. But we were good together—when it was good—when
his competitive edge didn’t get the better of him. Though I was one to talk. I
did the same thing at times. Hence our on and off status. But currently we were
supposed to be on. So, I kept it light in the spirit of things to come.

"Okay, master detective, I'll leave
you to your leads. See ya."

"See ya," he replied, already
preoccupied, pondering a piece of paper he'd taken from his pocket.

I made my way down the hill in my muddy
boots.

H.K.
Sterling

BIOGRAPHY

H.K. Sterling is an
author with Breathless Press known for stories with imagination, intelligence, a
kick, and twist endings. H.K. likes to focus her writing on suspense,
science-fiction, shorts, and anything that is spicy and unexpected. Sometimes
her writing may even go dark. H.K. lives in Virginia with her husband who
graciously puts up with her passion for writing. H.K. currently has a Mystery/Thriller
out: A Taste For Killing; and two
short stories in the Breathless Press Anthology: My Bloody Valentine. Her new book, A Taste For Danger has just been accepted for publication and H.K
will also soon publish a short-short titled Eyes
Only. H.K.'s books are suitable for 18+. You can contact H.K. on the
following social media: